Bobbin and Needlelace

 

Lace can be made with myriad techniques and variations of techniques.  It's one of the things that hooked me with bobbin lace.  You could spend the whole of your life exploring those techniques and never reach the ends.  That only expands when you begin looking at other types of lace.  I mentioned before the book, The Art of Lacemaking by Ann Collier.  That book has allowed me to try techniques I never would have even known about and this is one of those projects - my first foray into needlelace.  

Crochet is also a type of lacemaking and this is my multi-year project - a garden in crochet.  When I was living in my house, I loved working in the garden.  One day, in one of my vintage needlework magazines, I found the pattern that became the center panel of this project. It was a pattern for a tea tray but, since the thread I used was larger than the pattern called for, it was too large for a tea tray.  I got the idea of making a garden to cover my bed.  I found a variety of filet crochet patterns in an online copy of French crochet books from the 1920s, when there was a passion for filet crochet.  In my garden, I have flowers and walkways and, of course, birds and bees!  It took about 8 years to finish the crochet but I felt it needed a structure to hold it - a quilt.  Now, I'm not remotely a quilter but I've dabbled in small things like the tea cosies I'd been making.  How hard could it be?!! 

I decided I needed some way to finish off the edges of crochet so, of course, I turned to bobbin lace.  I'd been working on this edging from my practice of projects from Ulrike Voelcker's Discover Explore Master Torchon book.  With the samples (which I'll add in another post), I worked them for as long as I was enjoying them.  I really loved this pattern so I'd already worked about 60 inches.  I ended up needing about 220 inches but at least I was part of the way there.  Soooooooo,,,,on I went.  Fortunately the pattern worked up relatively quickly and before too long, I had enough to go around.  But it needed one more thing.  I found some tear drop beads with a hint of pink that matched the backing and border fabric.  With those at the tip of each peak of the lace, it was all tied together and finished.

Another project from Ann Collier's book.  Needlelace motif made with silk threads.  This took FOREVER! I made a lot of mistakes and, then, learned a lot with with project that doesn't yet have a place to live.  For now, it's displayed in my studio just waiting for the right project for display.

Ever since I first learned to work bobbin lace, I've wanted to make a fan.  It took me a long time before I felt I had the skills to work it properly.  I found this kit (pattern and fan sticks) in Holly VanSciver's online store. It's about 8 inches across and was very challenging to work but totally worth the effort.  Here it's sitting on a table covered by a doily made by my Grannie many, many years ago.  I like that juxtaposition. She would have been so interested in the lacework.

And finally, another long-term project I finished this year.  This project actually started when I found this antique frame in a little antique shop outside of Decatur, IL.  I loved the shape and the convex glass.  I had been wanting to do a pictorial bobbin lace piece so I decided to design it to fit this frame. I've been working on it from time to time over the past 5-6 years, partly because I didn't have all the skills I needed to complete the piece.  I would work a bit and then stop and practice certain techniques for the next section.  The design was meant to reflect life on the prairie.  It's another example of not being perfect but being perfect for documenting the growth of my skills in the technique.  But it was putting it on the backing of this heathered green felt and into the frame that made it come alive.

While these are not by any means all the projects I've worked on or completed over the past few years, they're representative enough of the projects that meant something to me and that I enjoyed completing.

More Bobbin Stuff

I've been working more with the bobbin lace stuff and although it feels good to be getting some patterns done, I know I'm still just rankest beginner.  All you have to do is look at all the mistakes in my latest project.  I'm not worrying about it too much because I got the cloth stitches done better than I've ever done before.  That's a success, right?  Now it's just about practice, practice, practice. This is also the most bobbins I've ever worked with at once (16 pairs) and it takes some getting used to as well.

I'm working here on my new "pillow," one that I made myself.  The book I'm working from (Beginner's Guide to Bobbin Lace by Gilian Dye & Adrienne Thunder) gives a description on how to do it and I think it came out pretty well.  Pretty well except for the dimensions.  I would do it differently another time but I suspect part of that is getting used to it.  Here are a couple of other projects I've done from the book.  The one on the left is a straight Torchon background using the interplay of the colors as the design element and the one on the right has a Torchon background with larger and smaller spiders.  This is the first time I've really been able to understand how these work and I was amazed it came out as well as it did.  I love this book and the clear detailed photos it has.  That has helped more than anything.

 So, I'm going to try and visit a lace group that meets near Chicago and see if I can track down some folks that I can watch and learn from. 

More lace

I've finished the next lesson in my bobbin lace book.  They call it a gimp worked on a Torchon background.  Next I'm going to try a lace edging witht he same thread as this. 

I haven't been doing much else, or else I've been just doing bits and pieces but nothing very interesting. 

I'm hoping to get stuff done over the long weekend coming up but we'll see how productive I actually get.  I had to come to grips with pushing myself way too hard.  It's just that there are so many things I want to do that I have to get projects finished (or feel that I do).  Anyway, I had a little discussion with myself and told myself to knock it off.  I don't know if I took it very well but I'm going to try to do better!

True Confessions

I have a confession to make.  A couple of weeks ago I posted about some (many) (a few) of the projects I've got going.  I've added to that with:

*  2 pairs of kids gloves.  I don't usually make things for people but this really sweet lady who adores her grandkids and showed me all the pictures of them she had in her wallet asked me to make a pair of camo gloves for her 9 year old grandson and purple gloves for her 7 year old granddaughter.  How can you not say yes to that request?

* fiber from Bishophill Spin-in (8 oz)

* Cormo wool (for white on white project) (4 oz) I've never spun Cormo but it's super soft and I've been told it loves to be lace yarn.  Good enough.  No pic because it's just so much white fluff.  Use your imagination.

* Mohair roving (1 oz) not from Bishophill but added to the list nevertheless - also for the white on white project (same as above - white stuff, imagination)

* New tatting project - doily that is much harder than it looked and I'm having lots of trouble with it.  No pics yet until I can stop throwing it across the room thinking sweary things about it.

So, don't you think that sounds like enough projects for any reasonable person who, by the way has a full time office job?  That's enough, right?

If you said, yes, then you're obviously well mistaken.  Obviously mistaken.  Because if you're not mistaken, then that says things about me that I'd rather not contemplate.  I obviously haven't enough to keep me busy (oh, yeah, add to that 4 public classes and working with Jane and Old State Capital folks to develop a new program).  I know you're mistaken because of this...

Bobbin lace.  Never done it before, never seen it done (before I visited You Tube).  I got a beginner's kit at Bishophill and this is my first effort.  A simple background stitch.

Look, Ma, I'm bobbin lace making!  Top of the world.

And oddly enough, where do you think I got instructions for bobbin lace?  With the kit?  That would be a "no" because the instructions that come with the kit leave quite a lot to be desired.  With one of the many books floating around on bobbin lace?  Yeah, right!

I went to my trusty Weldons books which contained a section on Torchon lace (more about the various types of lace another time - Honiton lace is also a bobbin lace), which is one of the names for this type of lace.  The instructions are clear, the woodcuts are fabulous and there are patterns that you can use (as shown in the first 2 pics).  I know this doesn't look like much but I managed to use 12 pairs of bobbins (that's 24 bobbins for anyone keeping score)!

Maybe I need help.